Looking for alternatives to Steam

[InteraMR]

So, ive been Steam customer for more then a decade now, and i want to see if there are any fresh rising stars out there.
I am aware of Epic store and GOG, and Origin, have them all, but the main problem on all of them is that they lack indie games.
Steam is great for indie games but they are not filtering out anything, so 5 out of 6 games will be trash.

I am looking for an online store that is focused on indie games, but with some filtration, while also offering access to AAA titles as they come.
Now ive been looking for a while now, google didnt offered me anything special, its mostly about Steam, Origin, GOG, Epic Store, and some BattleNet.

So, here i am, looking for any rumors or bits of info about any rising stars i may missed

 

[Johnway]

if you're after indie, Itch.io might be more your thing. Admittedly, quality ranges from indie devs to absolute beginners so yeah, still sifting through "trash" if you like. But some gems on there as well for a reasonable price.

 

[Zloth]

How are you picking games out on Steam?

 

[InteraMR]

How are you picking games out on Steam?

what you mean?

 

[Pifanjr]

What about the Humble Bundle store?

 

[annahart]

I personally like Green Man Gaming what you say?

 

[DXCHASE]

The launchers you listed (Steam, GOG, Epic) are really the only good launchers available both for indie and AAA games imo. Battle.net, Bethesda, Rockstar, EA etc. they all have their own stores, but are super limited to anything they themselves made.

Humble Store is good too, they have great bundle deals full of indies, but youll have a problem with finding good ones like you do with steam.

You could try something like Microsofts Gaming Pass, they have a bunch of indie games that come across there, but its a paid subscription.

I personally like Green Man Gaming what you say?

This is just a storefront to buy games that go to other launchers, i think the OP is looking for a hub based steam like launcher that does a better job at showing new/good indie games.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Plus one for Gamepass actually. I'm not sure if there are too many hidden gems on there as they'd have to be reasonably succesful to get an offer. But there are definitely smaller budget games on there I wouldnt have played if I had to buy them outright to try them that I really enjoyed.

 

[Zloth]

what you mean?

Well, you said a ton of indie games on Steam are trash. Quite true, even taking in people's different ideas on what trash is. However, it doesn't seem all that hard to me to see what I'm probably not going to like. So I'm wondering how it is you're deciding what to get and what not to get. Are you reading recent reviews? Are you trying out demos? Steam has a pretty strong search system now, are you using that to find the games to look at in the first place?

 

[InteraMR]

Well, you said a ton of indie games on Steam are trash. Quite true, even taking in people's different ideas on what trash is. However, it doesn't seem all that hard to me to see what I'm probably not going to like. So I'm wondering how it is you're deciding what to get and what not to get. Are you reading recent reviews? Are you trying out demos? Steam has a pretty strong search system now, are you using that to find the games to look at in the first place?

ah... none of the above
steam cant filter trash indies that i want to avoid because steam doesnt sign contracts with indie devs, such example is StarDrive, a game abandoned by the devs in a broken state, and then they released StarDrive 2, and abandoned it as well after the initial money surge, and Steam just let it pass like nothing

 

[Krud]

I want to second someone's itch.io recommendation, with the same caveat that there are still games you might consider "trash," but you also often get to name your price. The Humble Store might also have some indie titles worth checking out, I *think* they're more curated than Steam, but I haven't really checked in a while.

 

[Zloth]

ah... none of the above
steam cant filter trash indies that i want to avoid because steam doesnt sign contracts with indie devs, such example is StarDrive, a game abandoned by the devs in a broken state, and then they released StarDrive 2, and abandoned it as well after the initial money surge, and Steam just let it pass like nothing

I'm not talking about Steam just blocking everything, I'm talking about you spending a few minutes before you buy. If you look at reviews and see a bunch talking about how the game "shows a lot of promise" then stay away. "I love the game so far, looking forward to more" from somebody who played 3hrs and hasn't played in months is a bad sign, too. Just stick it on your wish list and look again a few months later. Sometimes the developers will fix it, sometimes they'll cut & run like StarDrive.

 

[Frindis]

A tip when it comes to filtering out the indie games that are not good: Search for those who have gotten very positive to overwhelming response aka top-rated indie games. There is very little chance of you finding a trash indie game by doing that. That said, not all indie games with bad reviews are bad, just like a movie with a low IMDB score is not necessarily a bad movie. Another thing you should definitely look out for is indie games that only show cinematic trailers or that use really bad assets. These are your typical Kickstarter indie games that are made for the pure purpose of grabbing your money and "accidentally slip away" from the project.

You could also try out Fanatical (old BundleStars) as they have a lot of AAA and indie game bundles that you can get for a good price. Not all of the indie games will have an overwhelmingly positive score, but most likely you will find a few good ones for your liking and for the cost of basically nothing. Just stay away from the mystery games/bundle they sell, it is basically a horrible deal for you in any way, shape, or form.

Speaking of rising stars: https://store.steampowered.com/app/892970/Valheim/

 

[Pifanjr]

Asking for indie suggestions on a forum such as this works too of course.

 

[Rolfil]

Don't forget that if you purchase a game through steam or Epic and don't like it you can generally get a refund if you have played less than two hours of it.

I'd second XBox PC Game Pass. If you haven't used it before then you can get the first month for £1 and then it's £7.99 a month.

Epic I use because of the free games - lots of these are indie titles, and the occasional really good bargain, normally when they give you a free £10 voucher if you spend over a certain amount.